The Republican-controlled House voted, 60-39, Thursday evening to approve the measure. The Senate still must consider the measure.

Democrats were strongly opposed to the bill. Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, an Ames Democrat, called the bill extreme and said it endangers women by not allowing for medical exceptions.

And Rep. Anesa Kajtazovic, a Waterloo Democrat, questioned why the body is debating an issue that has affected so few families compared to other maternity issues. Kajtazovic said just six abortions were performed in the state last year after 20 weeks of pregnancy, compared to 700 Iowa families that have experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth in the past year.

Iowa is one of 15 states considering a ban on abortions after 20 weeks, citing fetal pain research. The bills are modeled after a Nebraska law passed last year. A Kansas 20-week ban has already passed the state's legislature, and Gov. Sam Brownback is expected to sign it.

Iowa's Senate has a Democratic majority of 26-24, but Hanusa said Friday she knew of some Democrats in the Senate who would support it. Four Democrats in the House joined all but three Republicans to support the bill. The Republicans who refused to support it wanted a ban on all abortions.

The bill now heads to the state Senate, where the Register says Sen. Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, a Democrat, has promised to allow the bill to move through the committee process. If senators pass the legislation, it will go to pro-life Gov. Terry Branstad, who has promised to sign the measure into law.

Rep. Chris Hagenow, a Windsor Heights Republican sponsoring the bill, says legislators have been working for weeks on the bill to ensure that it doesn’t run into any constitutional issues should abortion advocates take it to court. In Nebraska, the first state to pass a fetal pain-based abortion ban, pro-abortion groups have not filed a lawsuit against it.